ged it for the more southerly atmosphere
of Nijmegen, at that time still a stronghold
of Catholicism. He had already read Dic
kens, but was as yet no Chesterton. Per
haps that was an honour nearer to the old
seminarian and the only Catholic accepta
ble to all socio-political groups: the poet-
journalist, and later professor of Dutch
literature at Nijmegen: Antoon van Duin
kerken. With his powerful talent for im
provisation he was certainly a shining
example for Bomans. In the newly laun
ched conservative magazine, 'Elseviers
Weekblad', Bomans ferociously attacked
the prize-winning novel 'De Avonden' by
Gerard van het Reve, calling it a shocking
book. Of its kind, to be sure, it was a
masterpiece, but its kind was simply appal
ling! It was totally devoid of anything
positive, it was grey, cynical and comple
tely negative. For Bomans it was the area
in and around Haarlem where he was born
and to which he had returned which offe
red him a social life outside dreary Am
sterdam, complete with the Teisterbant
society which he set up, and which was his
refuge and his haven. Bomans was certain
ly not alone in his aversion to postwar
negativism.
After a few individual initiatives, the
government also began to show concern
about the shiftlessness and lack of direc
tion of the post-war generation. A new
morality offensive was launched to try and
win back the lost ground: the Catholic
workers' movement which propagated the
family as its cornerstone with the slogan
'The family is our little fatherland', and
the Workers Youth Federation which
attempted to ring the world with friends
hip. This 'reconstruction'6 was supported
intellectually by a significant number of
scholars, mostly Catholics, concentrated in
the so-called Utrecht Circle. Some particu
larly interesting members of the group
were Pompe, with his concern for rehabili
tation and reform of the penal system; the
educationalist Fangeveld; the phenomeno-
logist and psychologist Riimke, and above
all the psychologist Buytendijk, who made
his mark with the book 'De Vrouw'
(Woman) in 1951. They emphasized con
cepts such as freedom within commitment,
and Christian values such as love of one's
fellow-man, whilst in psychiatric treatment
contact with patients came to be the focus.
They argued in favour of self-development
and against the rigid discipline of the
Church; yet it was the Catholic publishing
house Het Spectrum in Utrecht which
made a substantial contribution to the
dissemination of their ideas.7
And it was this same publishing house
which, in 1952, launched its first series of
paperback books, the Prisma Series, with a
complete translation of Dickens. The price
to subscribers was Dfl. 42.50 for 34 volu
mes. The appearance of this series was
marked by festivities (during which Bom
ans played the part of Dickens), and by the
publication of a double folio pamphlet
called 'Dickens Post', a booklet by Daniël
de Fange, 'Het Verschijnsel Dickens' or
The Dickens Phenomenon, and - natural
ly - a translation of Chesterton's book on
Dickens. Bomans himself carried out the
translation of his favourite work, 'The
Pickwick Papers'.
Four years later, he set up his Haarlem
Branch in Kraantje Fek, an old-fashioned
pub, not very far from here. It is too small
to accommodate all of us today for our
gathering. Teylers Museum may have no
connection with Dickens, but it is a sym
bol of the strong sociability which has long
characterized Haarlem. The museum was
built in two stages. The oldest part, the
famous oval hall, was built during the
second half of the 18th century, while the
faqade and the small and large auditoria
were built a century later, so that the
building as a whole represents two periods
of architectural style. At our meeting the
old and the new also come together: the
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